Muni bonds for sale

This year is turning out to be one many in the municipal-bond world would rather forget.Thanks to a federal tax-overhaul that caused a rush to borrow last year and curbed governments’ ability to refinance debt, new bond sales have shrunk by 20 percent, cutting deeply into underwriting fees. Trading is down. Demand has dropped from some of the market’s major buyers, banks and insurers, because tax rates were lowered. And with interest rates headed higher, the securities have handed investors a loss of 1.4 percent, marking the worst start to a year since 1996."We have been stuck in such a low interest rate environment for so long," said Ross Maynard, director of client portfolio management at Ascent Investment Partners, which holds about $500 million of municipal securities. "We always knew the transition period wasn’t going to be comfortable. I think we’re very much in that right now."The municipal market isn’t the only one whipsawed by worries about … [Read more...] about The Muni-Market’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year